Shytle 1

Zach Shytle
Dr. Rieman
UWRIT 1103
8 September 2014
Writers on Writing
Writers, like typical human beings, are individuals, and every writer has their own
way of producing quality. Whether they are writing essays, lab reports, theses, or novels,
the author follows their own ritual unique to themselves. Whenever I write, I have my
own process that I go through including steps that I must take to ensure that I write most
efficiently. The professional authors in Authors on Writing have their own methods,
which differ from mine but are still highly effective.
I myself go through a writing process that I have refined over the past four years
when I wrote my essays for high school English. My writing process goes as follows:
Step 1: Construct an idea based on a topic you find interesting.
Step 2: Research the topic and develop a strong, concrete thesis.
Step 3: Go through, paragraph-by-paragraph, elaborating, providing proof, explanation,
and synthesis to each topic discussed. Repeat this step for each topic that is discussed.
Step 4: Write the conclusion and introduction after each body paragraph is written
Step 5: Revise the draft for cohesion and ensure that each paragraph is how you want it.
Step 6: Read over the draft until you can be sure the essay is free of grammatical errors.
I will not be one to pretend that I follow this structure every single time that I write. I
have been known to mix up a few steps here and there, but for a majority of my essays I
try to stick to those six steps because they work for me as a writer.

Shytle 2

I am the type of person who gets distracted very easily. It is not that I have ADD
or ADHD, but sometimes I have trouble focusing. And usually, in order to write most
effectively, I need to cut myself off from as many distractions as I can. Most of the time I
will lock myself in my room, turn off my phone, and just write for however long until I
finish the writing goal I set out for that day. After that amount of time, I would reward
myself with a snack and send a text message or two. I turn my phone off because if I do
not, I will find myself being distracted by twitter, like I have been for the past five
minutes after typing that previous sentence. Sometimes I do listen to music to try and
lessen the stress of writing academic essays, but I have found that more times than not I
have the music too loud and it ends up distracting me. As long as the essay is completed
by the due date, and it is a quality piece of writing, that is all I care about.
I did not originally realize that writing was not such a sit down and knock it out
type of thing. In the video Authors on Writing, many of the professional writers had
their writing process figured out to where they would work hard without distractions for a
limited time and then take a break. While some of their quirks like not eating breakfast,
or starting to write as soon as one wakes up may seem a little weird at first but actually
make the process more effective because these writers have not had time to be reached by
as many distractions and can maximize their productivity for that limited time that they
are working. This makes me think that I may be trying to sit and focus for too long. I
need to see if writing for shorter time and taking short breaks will increase my
productivity. This will be a task for my future extensive writings.

Shytle 3

Thinking reflectively, typing this has helped me get in touch with my writing
process. Actually thinking through what I do every time I write an essay gives me a more
concrete idea on what to do for my next essay, and the video helped give me more ideas
on other techniques to try while writing.